Monday, April 20, 2009

Blog 20

Brainstorming- How concept of writing has changed- Technology creates more autonomous learners- How course readings changed your understanding use of technology - How technology changes personal connections through writing- Which essays connect to hive mind- Technology impact on print world and why- Impact of technology on print generationWriting I’m interested in – Friend Game, I <3 novels, hayles hyper and deep attention , friend game, Wikipedia article, flashmobs, and electronic literature. Wikipedia is changing writing in the education field, because of how far it reaches other readers, and how instantly information can be found. In regards to the expectations , the user (whether it be student or teacher) must learn how to use digital rules in order to post. There is no free writing, no writing without ‘proof’ – everything has to be backed up, much like providing sources when doing traditional writing. -------------------------------------------------So I am going to focus on Friend Game, I <3 novels, Wikipedia, Flashmobs, Electronic Literature. They were my favorite articles. The last two articles that I am going to try to incorporate are Hyper and Deep Attention and Produsage into this, although I didn’t like either. What is the impact of technology on print world.Wikipedia – writing is available to anyone, within seconds. Does not have to go through formal editing, instead it is reviewed by every day users. There are multiple ‘editors’. Must follow digital rules when users want to post something. No writing without proof – everything has to be backed up, much like providing sources when doing traditional writing. Topics otherwise not explored are covered. A full collaboration between users, instead of just one author or a few people within a joint project. Writing can be altered by trolls – the safety of writing is now jeopardized. Print writing cannot be defamed, but online writing can.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Blog 18

1. List the kinds of media you use/read/engage with on a daily basis. Are your choice of media + patterns for interacting with media the same or different from they way it was when you were 5? 10? 15? etc Give short descriptions to explain.

The media I use now varies from music, instant messaging, texting, watching television, emailing or surfing random websites. The choice of media definitely differs from when I was 5, 10 and even 15. When I was 5 and 10, I had no instant messaging (or internet service, for that matter), cell phone, or my own television and computer. Now I have two of my own laptops, my own television, many cellphones, and an ipod. Technology has effortlessly made its way into my life.
2. Rank the relative amount of time you presently spend with each medium -- be as specific as you can.
Texting - has to come first. I text all the time, and prefer it to talking on the phone. I send at least 50 texts a day, probably.
Music - Music is always on for me. At work, in the car, in school (I carry my ipod with me and usually have it on in between classes), when I'm on the computer, when I'm doing homework, when I'm cooking, when I'm watching t.v, etc....
Surfing the Web - I usually spend about 2 hours a day online, for whatever reason.
Watching television - I don't watch television too much. I have certain t.v shows that I must watch, otherwise I barely channel surf. I never watch t.v during the day.
Emailing - With the use of vbulletin and , more often TEXTING, I hardly email anymore. I'll use email to k.i.t with professors and relatives I wouldn't text, and that's about it.
Instant messaging - Once a big deal to me when I first got the internet as an adolescent, I hardly instant message anymore. I am usually never logged into any messenger, and maybe spend 15 minutes a day tops with instant messaging.
3. Describe any media associated with how you perform the following school related tasks:
do math or other calculation-based homework - sometimes use the calculator on the computer
read assignments - i might print out reading materials off the computer
compose a paper (answers may be different for drafting, revising + editing) - i use MS Word all the time
study for an exam - sometimes i'll find help online through tutoring sites.
conduct research / find references - use scholarly journals from Kean's website.
4. Describe any media associated with how you do the following everyday tasks:
drive - listen to music, text (!!!)
eat a meal by yourself - have music in the background, or watch television, or surf the web (this barely happens)
eat with your family/friends - sometimes have music in the background, or a radio talk show.
household chores (cooking, cleaning, household repairs, work on your car) - have music on all the time to keep me company.
5. Describe what you do to relax or in your free time - and how you relax(e.g. watching TV while looking at a magazine and texting a friend)
To relax, I'll listen to music in my room, text, and either read a magazine or surf the web or sketch something or just sleep!
a. Patterns of attention for individual activities: look back over your list and rank the individual practices listed under 3 - 5 . Use a scale of 1 - 5 where 1 is deep attention (focused on one task - creating an environment with no distractions) and 5 is hyper attention (focused on multiple channels for input - creating an environment with many distracting features). These numbers reflect your preferences for attending for individual activities.
math related - 2
read assignments - 4
compose a paper - 4
study for an exam - 3
conduct research - 5
average = 3.6
drive - 5
eat a meal by yourself - 5
eat a meal with family - 2
household chores - 5
average - 4.25
relax - 5
b. Patterns of attending within activity clusters: After you have ranked all the activities you listed, give yourself a score for school activities, living/household activities + relaxation activities by averaging the numbers in each category (for example if you have 3 for math assignments, 4 for reading assignments, 2 for writing papers, and 5 for studying for exams, then your school number would be: 3+4+2+5= 14/4 categories = 3.5 (a little more on the hyper attention side than the deep attention side)
c. Overall pattern for attention. Average all the rating numbers to get your overall pattern for attending.

Blog 17

Purpose: To determine whether the educational projects of teen second life have an audience, and if so, explain why it's beneficial to implement it in the classroom.

Research Question: Is there an audience in the Education Projects of Teen Second Life?

Related Questions: How many projects are ongoing right now? In terms of numbers, what is the participation? Are classes optional or mandatory? What are the benefits? What are the drawbacks? How easy is it to implement it? Where can teen second life be promoted? Is it worth promoting?

Teen Second Life is a separate world from the original "Main Grid", used by teens between the ages of 13 and 17. Once they turn 18, teens are transported to the Main Grid along with their identities, inventories and land and join the adults occupying the main grid.

Up until February 2006, Teen Second Life was entirely a teen population. Adults were not allowed on the Teen Grid. But this changed as educators realized the benefits offered by the second life grid. Since that time, the number of educational islands on the Teen Grid has grown at a tremendous rate. The educational projects in Teen Second Life fall into two categories: those accessible to all residents of Teen Second Life (public projects), and those accessible to teens associated with projects in 'real life' (private projects). About 70% of these educational sims are private and therefore not available to the general teen population. However, there are also many educational simsengaged in public projects accessible to all teen residents. A few examples are Global Kids, Eye4you Alliance, Tech Savvy, Kids Connect, and Metaversa.

Discipline-specific Uses of Second Life
Conklin (2005) lists discipline-specific activities for which Second Life or any virtual world could be used. The Information and Communication Library in Second Life itself also lists many of the same activities.
Economics Any activity with associated commerce and values. These include cooperation, competition, and variable value sets.
Business
Comparison of in-world business affordances with real-world parallels.
Advertising and marketing in a virtual world.
In-world and real-world business crossovers (where things in-world are sold in the real world, and vise versa).
Complete business simulations.
Virtual real estate.
Virtual intellectual property issues.
Social Sciences
Class and status issues.
Subcultures.
Relationships, politics, and religion.
Diversity.
Criminal justice for in-world offenders.
Legal rights of avatars.
Communication.
Humanities
Cultural studies and recreations.
Virtual art and theater.
Virtual existences.
Sciences
Programming.
Physics of game design.
Analysis of real-world scientific phenomenon, such as biological evolution or physics principles in action.

http://simteach.com/wiki/index.php?title=Second_Life_Education_Wiki

http://gaming.psu.edu/node/193

http://trumpy.cs.elon.edu/metaverse/gst364Win2005/handout.pdf

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Blog 16

I am trying to write about this, but I am having a very difficult time. I still think I am not doing a research paper, I feel like i'm doing just a review... I think I need lots of help!

Teen Second Life is geared to , of course, teenagers. The only adults allowed are the staff of Second Life as well as educators. Educational projects exist in teen second life, but the particpation is pretty much unknown unless you are a teen/educator using it. my research question is what is the participation levels of teen second life educational projects right now? How can we promote teen second life educational projects to districts and teachers, focusing on telling them the benefits of it.

i want to research how many educational projects are in teen second life right now, and how many students are using it (of courses, averages have to be made...). Is it optional classes, or is it mandatory classes? What are the benefts? What are the drawbacks? How easy is it to implement it? Where can Teen Second Life be promoted so it gets more traffic?